Millions of Americans suffer from back injuries and back pain, which can easily be aggravated by participation in athletic, physical, and even everyday activities. The lower back, or lumbar region, supports the weight of the upper body and is the most common site of back injuries. Treatment for back injuries often involves restoring strength to the back and preventing recurrence of the injury.
Back patients often wear back support garments to compress and restrict movement in the lumbar spine and surrounding muscles to prevent further back strain. There are many variations of compressive back supports in the prior art. These often consist of a back support device made from a stiff fabric configured to compress the wearer's waist area.
Although several back supports exist in the prior art, most existing back support apparatuses provide compressive support only to the lumbar area, and fail to extend support to the tailbone region of the spine and its surrounding muscles, which are also vulnerable to injury. Furthermore, back supports of the prior art also do not provide adequate compressive support to a wearer's leg and groin muscles. In addition, they do not provide for localized therapeutic heating or cooling of the lumbar region.